Tag Archives: International

I LOVE history, especially when I can find a more personal connection to it. Knowing that my grandparents and parents were members of Sacramento #1, made me curious to learn more about this organization’s past.

Here are two articles that I found had some interesting information, the first is an article the day after the very first official meeting of the 20-30 club and the second one mentions the 50th anniversary celebration where there was an explanation of the hourglass symbol (interesting to note that things haven’t changed much with a social hour, followed by a dinner where likely there were speeches and announcements, followed by dancing). I might be the only one that’s jumping for joy at this find but it is exciting to be able to solve mysteries of the past and learn how things came about and what happened. Enjoy!

Organization of 20-30 Club is Completed

Final organization of the 20-30 Club, composed of men between the ages of 20 and 30 years engaged in all lines of work, yesterday was completed at a meeting held at the chamber of commerce, when officers were elected and constitution and by-laws were approved.

The next meeting of the club will be held December 28th at 8 p.m. at the chamber of commerce.

A feature of the program yesterday was the appearance of Verne Vernill, female impersonator, who sang several songs.

Sacramento Union, 20 Dec. 1922: 22.

20-30 Club Was Born In Sacramento

“Twenty-Thirty is Fifty” is the theme of a dinner dance which will be held Saturday in the Woodlake Inn in observance of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the 20-30 club.

More than 500 members and former members and their wives will be in attendance at the affair, which will start with a 6 p.m. social hour followed by dinner and dancing.

Toasts and messages of welcome will be offered by David K. Murphy, president of the club; J. Edward Cain, president in 1927, and Robert Baumgart, who held the office in 1953.

Gene Pendergast is chairman of arrangements.

It was in 1922 that 20-30 Club, long an international organization, had its beginnings. The late Paul Claiborne conceived the idea of forming a service club with a membership that would consist only of young men and with goals directed toward helping the youth of the community – two needs that were not being filled at the time by senior service clubs in the Sacramento area.

Along with Earle G. Casey, Alfred B Franke, Charles G McBride and Marshall A Page, Claiborne took his idea to Mitchel Nathan, then president of the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce.

The first meeting was held Dec. 19 and the hourglass, a symbol of the passage of youth, was adopted as the emblem.

Soon after the Sacramento club had established itself, 20-30 began to expand into new areas. Clubs were formed in San Bernardino, San Francisco, Hayward, Tracy, and Oakland.

By 1941 charters were granted to clubs from California to Indiana, from Washington to New Mexico. In 1946, with the chartering of a club in Juarez, Mexico, 20-30 became an international organization and at a “victory” Convention, the official name of the association of 20-30 Clubs was changed to 20-30 International and the age limit advanced to 35.

In the years to follow, expansion began in the far west and Southwest. Clubs also spread through Mexico and into all the Central American countries and parts of South America.

Nineteen Twenty-Two was also the birth date of another service club. Some 700 miles of Sacramento, in Aberdeen, Wash., another group of young men had hit upon Claibornes’ idea and formed an organization which they named “Active”. Throughout the years of expansion both 20-30 and Active were drawn along similar paths. In 1959 President Norm Morrison of 20-30 International and President Ken Helling of Active International proposed that the two almost-identical clubs should merge. On August 1, 1960, Active and 20-30 became known as Active 20-30 International.

Throughout its fifty years of service to the community and country, 20-30 members (or more recently Active 20-30 members) have provided aid and service to youth and provided a training ground for young businessmen.